What's on Your Mind: Our opinion panel share their thoughts on the issues of the day

Let's debate

The level of political "discourse" in this feature and its online component has deteriorated significantly in the last few months, all due to crazed Republicans so taken in by the Fox News bubble that they can't conceive of any opinion other than what their conservative overlords tell them to believe and propagate. Just once I'd like one of these conservatives to come at me with real evidence.

Better yet, I would welcome (and I now so challenge any of them to) a debate with any of them. But it would have to be a real, structured policy debate, not the nonsense that passes for a debate on Fox News. Other than leaving vaguely threatening and quite profane messages (or, if I answer, a few shouted sentences and then a quick hang-up), the Fox News conservatives will never agree to a debate, with me or anyone else.

David Henning

Sheboygan

Political football

The road to citizenship or legal residence has become a road with many detours. Several years ago President Bush presented a plan that was rejected by both parties and admittedly, it was not a perfect plan. However, it was the only plan out there that could have been used as a starting point and tweaked by Congress to draw up an acceptable plan.

In conversations I have had with legal foreigners, I learned that the plan offered a path for those who contributed to our society to become legal, and a legal reason to return those involved in illegal activities or a drain on our communities to their home counties. This political football has become a source of a lot of discussion with no visible solution to deal with those already in this country.

Norman Veldboom

Oostburg

No leadership

The First Amendment of the Constitution states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

President Obama recently signed into law, in secret, bill HR347. It is being argued pro and con as to the reason for this bill. When we as Americans no longer have the right to peacefully state our displeasure with what our government is doing we have lost one of our freedoms. Penalties can be classed as felonies, and carry repercussions as such. Our President fails to show leadership, and appears to lean to dictatorship instead. If the greatest document in the history of the United States can no longer protect us, what will the future of our country be ?

Jack Wirtz

Sheboygan

Speak up!

I wish more people would make use of the opportunity that the Press has given us. It has provided not only this Opinion Panel but also the Letters to the Editor feature as well as an online blog to comment on the letters.

It seems that the same group of people, myself included, contribute the majority of letters to the Press. It has become somewhat like a dysfunctional family that could really use some new blood. So speak up folks. Everyone has their own thoughts and opinions on the issues of the day, whatever they may be. If something interests you, share it with us. Yours may be the best thought of all and it may do the rest of us some good to hear it.

Mike Bean

Town of Sheboygan

Right to vote

The Supreme Court needs to make a critical decision in the near future and rule against the challenge to the Voting Rights Act. One would think that after almost 50 years we would not be still dealing with efforts to curtail the right to vote, but we are. And it is blatant. And it has spread from the South into almost all states. Under the guise of stopping election fraud, voter ID, shorted residency times, restricted voting hours, and fewer polling places/machines have been tried in order to frustrate the electorate. Fortunately, up to this point it has not worked. Let us hope the Court stands up for this fundamental right and prescribes severe (i.e. jail sentences) sanctions for any that would try to curtail this most basic right.

Mark Briese

Sheboygan

Distorted priorities

The governor's proposed budget, which offers income tax cuts instead of a restoration of the cuts made previously to public schools, shows a distorted sense of priorities in more ways than one. Education should be one of our primary public concerns. The future of our state and nation - even in economic terms - depends on it, for one thing.

The proposed tax cuts would give more than half of the money to the top 20 percent of earners, the least in need of this. And a tax cut, after years of very difficult state budget balancing, does not allow for the economic downturn which is predicted to happen if the federal sequestration goes into effect, as expected, and which would reduce state revenues. Surely we are all heartily sick of the biennial struggles to balance the state budget, which too often happens only with budgeting gimmicks.

James Tobin

Town of Wilson

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What's on Your Mind: Our opinion panel share their thoughts on the issues of the day

The level of political 'discourse' in this feature and its online component has deteriorated significantly in the last few months, all due to crazed Republicans so taken in by the Fox News bubble

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